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Coronavirus pandemic
AsiaDiplomacy

Bernardita Catalla, the Philippines’ former consul general to Hong Kong, dies of coronavirus in Beirut

  • Catalla was Manila’s ambassador to Lebanon at the time of her death
  • In Hong Kong, domestic workers’ union leaders recalled her as ‘a good consul general who tried to listen to opinions’ and sped up bureaucratic procedures

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Bernardita Catalla in 2015 during her time as consul general to Hong Kong. Photo: SCMP / Jonathan Wong
Raquel Carvalho
Bernardita Catalla – the Philippines’ ambassador to Lebanon, who also served as consul general in Hong Kong – died in Beirut on Thursday morning due to complications from Covid-19.
Catalla, 62, is the Southeast Asian nation’s first career diplomat to have died from the disease, which has killed more than 47,000 people around the world.

Before her assignment in Beirut, Catalla – known as Bernie – was from 2014 to 2017 consul general to Hong Kong, a city with some 240,000 Filipino residents, including some 219,000 domestic workers.

“We remember her as a person open to engaging with progressive organisations, unlike other government officials,” said Eman Villanueva, spokesman for the Asian Migrants Coordinating Body.

The union leader recalled that Catalla sided with domestic workers when they called for Hong Kong to introduce a ban on them cleaning windows. Rights groups raised concerns over the issue in 2016 following a spate of deaths of domestic workers who fell from high-rise buildings.

“We were able to at least get some informal agreements on some of the issues we raised,” Villanueva said.

In November that year, the Hong Kong government revealed details of a new clause to be added to all domestic workers’ employment contracts, prohibiting them from cleaning external windows above the ground floor unless the window had a secure grille. The ban had been proposed by the Philippine consulate.

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